.

_Almanz._ Let me but near that happy temple stay,
And through the grates peep on you once a day;
To famished hope I would no banquet give:
I cannot starve, and wish but just to live.
Thus, as a drowning man
Sinks often, and does still more faintly rise,
With his last hold catching whate'er he spies;
So, fallen from those proud hopes I had before,
Your aid I for a dying wretch implore.

_Almah._ I cannot your hard destiny withstand,

BOABDELIN, _and Guards above._

But slip, like bending rushes, from your hand.
Sink all at once, since you must sink at last.

_Almanz._ Can you that last relief of sight remove,
And thrust me out the utmost line of love!
Then, since my hopes of happiness are gone,
Denied all favours, I will seize this one.
[_Catches her hand, and kisses it._

_Boab._ My just revenge no longer I'll forbear:
I've seen too much; I need not stay to hear. [_Descends._

_Almanz._ As a small shower
To the parched earth does some refreshment give,
So, in the strength of this, one day I'll live:
A day,--a year,--an age,--for ever, now;
[_Betwixt each word he kisses her hand by force;
she struggling._
I feel from every touch a new soul flow.
[_She snatches her hand away._
My hoped eternity of joy is past!
'Twas insupportable, and could not last.
Were heaven not made of less, or duller joy,
'Twould break each minute, and itself destroy.

_Enter King and Guards, below._

_Boab._ This, this, is he, for whom thou didst deny
To share my bed:--Let them together die.

_Almah._ Hear me, my lord.

_Boab._ Your flattering arts are vain:
Make haste, and execute what I ordain. [_To the Guards._

_Almanz._ Cut piece-meal in this cause,
From every wound I should new vigour take,
And every limb should new Almanzors make.
[_He puts himself before the Queen; the Guards
attack him, with the King._

_Enter_ ABDELMELECH.

_Abdelm._ What angry god, to exercise his spite, [_To the King._
Has arm'd your left hand, to cut off your right?
[_The King turns, the fight ceases._
The foes are entered at the Elvira gate:
False Lyndaraxa has the town betrayed,
And all the Zegrys give the Spaniards aid.

_Boab._ O mischief, not suspected nor foreseen!

_Abdelm._ Already they hav